I would appreciate input from fellow Porsche enthusiasts.

I have really not had the best luck with this car.

I placed my order for a 718 Spyder in July of 2018, I had opted for European delivery, I was to pick up the car in March / April of 2021 in Leipzig, and that did not work out as planned for obvious reasons.

I was contacted shortly before the car was to arrive in Canada in April, and informed it would need a new motor, so bummer.

When I was finally able to pick up the car October 13th, after several other delays, I was eager to pick it up. I arrived at the dealership just before close and took off with my car. I pulled over 10 minutes later to look at it and noticed that the front fender was darker than the door. The next day upon closer inspection it is obvious that the front fender has been repainted, and this has been confirmed with a paint depth guage.

Upon contacting the dealership, they have indicated that it was not them, and my advisor reached out to Porsche and they are saying they do not have a record of it being repainted in the port, which means nothing.

I am guessing that this is now my problem as I took the car, I have just never thought that a PPI was necessary on a new car, live and learn I guess.

Just wondering if anyone has any experience with a situation like this and what was the outcome?

Thanks for any input.

 

How long after taking delivery did you notify the dealer about you noticing the repaint? When did you show it to them?

As long as it was within a few days of delivery (so they cannot reasonably claim you damaged it and had it repainted imperfectly), your dealer or Porsche corporate should pay to get it painted to a proper match, or compensate you some amount for the hassle (say $1000, from which $500 can the fender repainted at a good shop).

Not a Porsche, but a few years ago I had a new Ford Escape delivered with poorly retouched paint damage that I didn't notice until I brought the car home. I emailed the dealer the same day and brought it to them the next day, and they said they'll fix it. Their body shop did a rather crude job at fixing it and their "repair" left sanding marks on the paint. I grumbled some more, and suggested they offer me $500 to get it fixed myself and get out of their hair. They took my suggestion. Obviously, for a Porsche you'd be more fussy than with a Ford, and you'd want a bit more compensation, but in the end a repainted fender is not a big deal.

 

Who did the engine replacement? Perhaps it was damaged then.... Are the engines dropped out or lifted out?

 

Thanks for your input.

I picked the car up late Oct 13, I live 2 hours away from the dealership, I notified the dealership on the 23rd as I wanted to make sure I was not imagining things. I asked a friend of mine who used to own a dealership and a body shop to look at it, he came over on the weekend and concurred, his comment when seeing it was 'woah, someone got a little excited with the clear coat', as there are noticeable runs on the edges. Work has been really busy, and looking back I should have probably contacted the dealer sooner. I took it to show it to them next I was in Toronto, which was last week, I was told that there was nothing they could do and to open a case with Porsche.

I guess they could say that I damaged it, then fixed it in the 10 days, which might be possible if I was in the car business, which I am not.

Yesterday I received Porsche Canadas 'Customer Satisfaction Survey' and it kind of made me angry. I am sure you have seen these, a bunch of vague questions, things about magazines in the waiting area and coffee, WTF? They even got the dealership wrong. I understand that they don't have an issue selling all the sports cars they make, I don't understand why they bother with these survey things, they seem pointless.

I have a quote to fix it, and it's in the 2k range.

On one hand I am worried about diminished value, but I was planning on keeping this car a while. The more optimistic side of me says I will worry less about driving it around because it's not really a perfect car anymore. I used to do a lot of track days on motorcycles, and bikes were always faster after a crash.

Kind of ironically in the context of your reply, I used to own a Focus RS and I have nothing bad to say about my Ford dealer, they were fantastic, they even let me help with the PDI which was awesome. I could also deal directly with the guy actually working on my car, and we were on a first name basis, it was a great ownership experience. I really miss that car.

 

Replacement was done at the dealership. I am pretty sure most of the work is done with the car on a lift, kind of like in the old beetle days.

 

Take the car to a body shop ASAP and a get written professional assessment. Send that to Porsche HQ and the dealer and give them 10 days to respond with a resolution.

Dealers always play the same game, deny, delay and hope you go away.

Make sure they know you mean business. Having a friend look at it is not enough.

 

I have already done that, I am waiting for a detailed report from the body shop, they also found dings on the rims consistent with transportation.

It would surprise me if Porsche responded to an ultimatum well, in my experience issues like this sometimes require the assistance of lawyers. I would like to avoid that, but I have three lawyers in my immediate family, so there is that.

I had a similar issue with BMW a number of years back, and to their credit, they were upfront about things, unfortunately it took the serious threat of legal action for them to do what was necessary to remediate the issue, this only happened after they had ample opportunity to do the right thing first.

 

which piece of sh*t dealership did you buy from?

 

Screw that...you bought a new car, you should get a new car. I'd say they can take it back and get you a new one top of the list.

 

looks like it was Pfaff based on a previous post.

 

That probably explains the dealer flipping, they will sell the vehicle through whichever they have an allocation, regardless of which physical location it is you buy at.

 

LOL! I wish... I am not an important enough customer for that to happen. I had asked if that was an option with the motor recall, and I was told that I could abandon my car, I would get my deposit back, but the chance of getting a new allocation would be just that, a chance.

It has kind of been a sobering experience so far, I have always loved Porsches, and I will continue to do so, I think that new cars have just become a lot less appealing. My first Porsche was a 993 that I bought 2 years old, it was great. I am kind of disappointed in myself for not taking the time to have given the car a more objective once over.

 

wow,it really took 3 years to get a car like this?

Pre-delivery damage is something I feared. I asked my SA about it and he said it does happen. What surprises me is that it doesn't happen all the time, considering how much the cars are loaded and unloaded and shuffled around. I understand the period between halifax and delivery is an especially black hole where no information escapes.

Here's the treatment the top of line cars get, others not so much:

 

Any VWAG product from Europe is wrapped the same way. Anything coming from US or Mexico, has plastic.

This has always been the case in the 10 years I've worked at VW.

 

when I was told my 718 was waiting in halifax, I went to google earth and looked at the porsche storage area ( not real time, I know) . Boxsters tops were covered in plastic, and there were some caps on the wheels. didn't seem to be anything else.